Hot metal car



May 21, 1940.

J. D. PUGH I 2,201,920

HOT METAL CAR Original Filed Jan. 22, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 lllllll IIIIHIIHH I! l May 21, 1940. J PUGH 2,201,920

HOT METAL CAR Original Filed Jan. 22, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May21, 1940 UNITED STATES HOT METAL CAR John D. Pugh, Baltimore, Md.; AddieA. Pugh and F. Howard Smith, executors of said John D. Pugh, deceased,assignors to Addie A. Pugh,

Baltimore, Md.

Original application January 22, 1935, Serial No. 2,955. Divided andthis application December 9, 1936, Serial No. 115,009

4 Claims.

plant to one or more points of destination, are

now well-known and widely used. Such containers of the larger capacitiesare generally mounted upon wheeled trucks for transportation alongsuitable trackways and are provided with heavy insulating linings.Molten material introduced into such a car will not lose its heatrapidly during transportation but will remain in molten condition forlong periods of time so as to be fluid when the car reaches itsdestination or discharging point. In my prior Patent No. 1,251,- 233,issued December 25, 1917 is described a form of mobile container or hotmetal car, and the present car, while generally similar in its broaderaspects to that disclosed in the aforementioned patent, includes anumber of novel features which make it more useful for certain purposes.

An object of the invention is to provide a hot metal car having amaximum capacity for a given overall length and height and which is sodesigned, and so supported, that its molten contents may be dischargedin a novel manner, and by the use of novel and improved dumping ortilting means which is auxiliary to the container itself. Thus, inaccordance with the present invention, the operator is enabled todischarge either the entire contents of the container by a continuouspouring operation, or any portion of such contents, the container beinglifted bodily from its mobile supporting means and-tilted or loweredupon auxiliary devices positioned adjacent the same, complete inversionof the container for cleaning purposes also being possible and thecontainer being readily replaceable after such discharging operation,upon the mobile supporting means upon which it normally rests. In orderthat the container may be lifted bodily from its mobile support andmanipulated for discharging purposes in the manner just described, theconnections between the container and its supporting trucks are sodesigned that, while preventing relative bodily movement of thecontainer for support in a horizontal plane under the influence of draftforces, disconnection of the container and supporting means-is easilyeffected by the application of simple lifting forces to one side of thecontainer body, and reconnection of the container to the mobile supportsis automatically eifected simply by the lowering of the container ontothe supporting tracks. I

In the various embodiments of the present in- 6 vention selected fordisclosure by way of example, the hot metal car as an entirety is soconstructed as to be movable along the trackway to a point of discharge,at which point of discharge the container body is positioned directlyopposite certain fulcrum or skid devices mounted alongside the trackwayupon which the car moves. Such devices are mounted in fixed position soas to be engageable by certain cooperating means on the container whenthe container is manipulated for dumping purposes. Contact is madebetween the container and the fulcrum means about which it turns withthe aid of a hook and cable depending from an overhead crane and intilting or dumping movement the container body is moved along a curvedpath, upwardly and outwardly, until all portions thereof are entirelyclear of the supporting trucks, the tilting movement of the containerbeing continued to the desired extent. Any molten material or othersubstance which may be in the container is, of course, discharged whensuch tilting or inversion takes place and, if the container iscompletely inverted, its interior lining may be conveniently examinedand cleaned if necessary.

To permit the elevation from and the return to the wheeled supportingtrucks of the container body the connections between the container bodyand wheeled trucks are designed in a novel and improved manner, thisnovel connecting means being claimed in my copending application SerialNo. 2,955 previously referred to. These connections readily permit thedesired movements of the container body independently of its supportingmeans while at the same time permitting, when the container ispositioned upon its supporting means, free swiveling movement of thesupporting trucks relatively to the container body and at the same timetransmitting all draft forces from the trucks to the container body andvice versa, any draft forces imposed upon the car passing through thecontainer body, in every instance the car being unprovided with anycontinuous underframe, such as generally used in hot metal cars ofprevious types.

The several embodiments of the invention selected for disclosure by Wayof example are illustrated in the accompanying draiwings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a hot metal car em- 55 bodying the novelfeatures of the invention, a portion of the container body being brokenaway to disclose certain features of the supporting trucks;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the hot metal car, portion of one of thetrucks being broken away to show the connecting means between containerand truck;

Figure 3 is an end View of the car and one form of the fulcrum means forsupporting the container during discharge;

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical section through a portion of thecontainer and a portion of a supporting truck, showing the novelconnecting means between container and truck;

Figure 5 is a detailed sectional view taken on line 55 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a similar section but taken through the corresponding partslocated at the other end of the car, and

Figure 7 is a view generally similar to Figure 3, but illustrating adumping or tilting stand of different construction.

The hot metal container illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 is of the largecapacity type, being able to receive and store a body of molten iron orsteel weighing in the neighborhood of two hundred tons. It will beappreciated, however, that the actual size and capacity of the containermay be varied widely as desired and that the novel features of theinvention may be made use of in hot metal cars of all capacities.

The container of the hot metal car illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 isgenerally indicated at I0 and its shape is that of a form of revolution.with horizontal axis. Preferably it embodies a central cylindricalportion H and two frusto conical end portions 62, rigidly attached tothe central portion H and tapering toward the ends of the containerbody. The container ends [3 are conveniently formed as castings, rigidlysecured to the outer ends of the frusto conical sections 42. Thecontainer is lined with suitable insulating material and is providedwith charging and discharging spouts l, through which molten metal orthe like may be poured into the container and which permit the readyoutflow of such material when the container is tilted.

The container body H3 is mounted directly upon supporting trucks 20, nointerposed car platforms or underframes being employed. In cars of largesize, such as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, each of the trucks 20 mayhave ten supporting wheels and may advantageously comprise a properlyequalized and balanced consolidation of a six wheeled truck 2| and afour wheeled truck 22. The six wheeled truck is provided with an Hshaped bolster 23 having an intermediate portion 24 and four lateralprojections 25 comprising spring seats for connection with the sideframes of the six wheeled truck. The four wheeled truck 22 is providedwith an ordinary transverse bolster 2'! which has at its ends sidebearings indicated at 28, and the large bolster 23 is provided with theside bearings 29. These bolsters are also provided respectively withcenter bearings 36 and 3|. Supported upon these side and center bearingsis a super-bolster 35 which is shown partly in solid and partly indotted lines in Figure 1 and illustrated in side elevation in Figure 2.This superbolster is provided with pins which enter the center bearingsand 3! and also with correspond ing side bearing portions disposed abovethe side bearings 28 and 29, rollers or other anti-friction means 38being located in recesses formed in these side bearings. The outwardlyprojecting end portion 38 of the super-bolster supports suitable draftmechanism, of which the coupler 39 comprises a portion.

The inner adjacent ends of the trucks are flexibly and adjustablyconnected together as by means of the two transversely extending curvedsprings ill and the connecting bolt M. This connecting and spacing meansmaintains the trucks in proper relationship to each other during thetime that the container is removed therefrom, as hereinafter to be morefully described. By the use of the springs, or other equivalent flexibleconnection between the adjacent ends of the trucks, free articulation ofthe trucks when the car is passing around curves is permitted. Theconnecting means just described is of course not designed nor intendedto transmit any portion of the draft forces, all of which forces aretransmitted through the container body It.

The frusto conical portions 12 of the container or ladle are providedwith saddles centrally of which are formed the rounded king pins 46.Upon either side of the king pin each saddle is provided with an upperside bearing portion 4'1, most clearly shown in Figure 4. Each of thesuper-bolsters 35 is provided with a socketed center bearing member 48and side bearing portions 49 directly underlying the side bearingportions 3'! of the saddle as. Cylindrical rollers 50 are carried insuitable recesses formed in the side bearing portions 49 and arenormally spaced slightly below the side bearing portions 4'! of thesaddle, at one end of the car. At the opposite end of the car the sidebearings 47 are in contact with the rollers 58, the relationships ofthese parts at the two ends of the cars being illustrated most clearlyin Figures 5 and 6. This affords a substantially three-point suspensionof the ladle on the two trucks and permits a certain flexibility ortilting of the relatively elongated car when rounding banked turns. Thisarrangement is only necessary in the case of exceptionally long carshaving ladles or containers of large capacity. It will also be observedthat, partially encircling each of the container ends I3, and rigidlysecured thereto, is a toothed segment or segmental gear 55, extendingcircumferentially slightly more than half way around the container endand also that each container end is provided with two clownwardly andoutwardly extending legs 55, each terminating in a concave seat 51.

The car thus far described may be charged at any desired point and isfreely movable along a trackway to any desired destination point,sometimes miles away from the charged point. In Figure 1 of the drawingsthe car is shown at a discharging point, the apparatus employed forassisting in the discharge of the container H] being illustrated. Arunner for molten material to be discharged from a pouring spout M, isindicated at 58 and transfer ladles are illustrated, in part, at 59,ladle supporting stands one positioned to each side of runner 58, areindicated at 60, each of these stands having spaced teeth 6| formed uponits curved upper surface, the teeth 6| being so formed and so spaced asto comprise what may be designated a rack adapted to receive and meshwith toothed segments upon the ladle body It), the toothed racks 6|being spaced apart a distance equal to the horizontal distance betweenthe segments 55, and being disposed, when the car is positioned asshown, in planes normal to the longitudinal axis of the ladle I0. Eachstand is likewise provided with a pin or fulcrum member 62 projectingtoward the trackway upon which the car isadapted to stand. When the carhas been moved into the position shown'the concave seats 5'! at thelower ends of the legs 56 will be in close proximity to the fulcrummember $2 of the stand 56, the fulcrum member t2 being preferablytapered longitudinally of the 'trackway to facilitate the movement ofthe legs 55 into proper relationship therewith as the car moves slowlyinto final position for discharge.

For ladle lifting purposes hooks, one of which is indicated at M inFigure 3, are employed, these hooks depending from an overhead crane andbeing operatively engageable with one or the other of lugs t5 mountedupon brackets 66, rigid with the container body. Elevation of the cranehooks 64 first causes positive engagement of the seats 51 of legs 56with fulcrum members 62, the container body being thereafter, by thecontinued applicationof lifting forces to the bracket 66, lifted fromits supporting trucks and caused to rotate about a horizontal axisdefined by fulcrum members t2. After rotation of the container bodyabout the axis of fulcrum members 62 to a limited extent, the teeth ofthe segments 55 come into engagement with the teeth of racks 6|,respectively, and further movement of the container body is one oftranslation, the body being rolled upwardly along the toothed racks iiito desired dumping position. It may be rolled in this manner until thebody occupies the position in which it is shown in dotted lines inFigure 3, in which position its molten contents will be fully andcompletely discharged. For partial discharge of its contents thecontainer will be rotated only to some intermediate position.

Obviously the means mounting the container body It upon the supportingtrucks must be designed and constructed especially to permit the readyelevation of the container in the manner described and the ready returnof the container to original position upon the trucks. This connectingmeans will now be described in detail.

The king pins 36, previously referredto, and which normally rest withinsockets formed in members 38, are constructed in such manner as todecrease in horizontal cross-sectional area downwardly from the saddle45, being in the form of inverted dome-shaped members in the form ofconnecting means shown in Figure 4 or they may be conical or have asimilar downwardly tapering configuration. This arrangement permits theready titlting or rotation of the car about an exterior axis, parallelto the axis of the container, without interference of the king pin withits hearing or any other portion of a supporting truck. As beforeindicated, the precise configuration of the king pin may be variedsomewhat but the profile thereof must in every instance have certaincharacteristics. Thus all points on that surface of the pin remote fromthe fulcrum axis should lie within a circle drawn through the uppermostpoint of contact of said surface with the bearing socket, the circlebeing described about the fulcrum axis as a center. The radius of thiscircle is indicated in Figure 3 by the letter R. When the container isrocked about the axis of the fulcrum member 62, the king pins, uponbeing lifted, will be freely drawn out of their recesses in the socketmembers G8 and likewise, during the final lowering movement of thecontainer into position on the trucks, the king pins will freely enterthe sockets provided for their reception. This objective must beobviously attained with the use of king pins which fit closely withinthe sockets provided for their reception in order that there may be nolooseness in the connections between container body and trucks h whenthe car is being drawn along the trackway. *5 The king pins must also besymmetrically formed about the longitudinal vertical plane of thevertical body in order that the container may be rocked in eitherdirection for dumping purposes.

It will be appreciated that the hot metal car I0 illustrated, and whichhas been described in detail, is set forth by way of example only andthat the invention is applicable to still other forms of hot metal cars.In every instance, however, the means connecting the container body tothe supl6 porting trucks will be so designed and constructed as topermit ready removal and replacement of the container body andassociated with this means will be a container supporting mechanismseparate from the supporting trucks and upon which the container may berolled, supported for pivotal movement, or otherwise supported during adischarging operation. The discharging motion is brought about by theapplication of lifting forces to one side of the container body but thereturn motion is under the influence of gravity, although closelycontrolled by the operator. The use of power dumping appliances whichform parts of the hot metal car itself is avoided and a container ofmaximum 30 capacity for the weight of the car and the overall dimensionsthereof is provided.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is: 35

l. The combination of a hot metal car or the like with means fordischarging the contents thereof comprising a container mounted uponwheeled supporting trucks, a stationary fulcrum disposed laterallyadjacent said car, and a way provided beyond said fulcrum, cooperatingmeans disposed upon one side of said container for contacting saidfulcrum, and a surface of revolution provided on said container forcontacting with and rolling upon said way after said container is 45tilted upon said fulcrum, whereby said container may be substantiallyinverted for dumping purposes.

2. The combination of a hot metal car or the like with means fordischarging the contents thereof comprising a container mounted uponwheeled supporting trucks, a stationary fulcrum disposed laterallyadjacent and projecting toward said car, and a rack positioned beyondsaid fulcrum, cooperating means disposed upon one side of said containerfor contacting said fulcrum, and a toothed segment provided on saidcontainer for contacting with and rolling upon said rack after saidcontainer is tilted upon said fulcrum, whereby said container may besubstan- 60 tially inverted for dumping purposes.

3. The combination of a hot metal car or the like with means fordischarging the contents thereof comprising a container mounted uponwheeled supporting trucks by means of tapering 65 king pins, astationary fulcrum disposed laterally adjacent said car, and a wayprovided beyond said fulcrum, cooperating means disposed upon one sideof said container for contacting said fulcrum, and a surface ofrevolution provided on 70 said container for contacting with and rollingupon said way after said container is tilted upon said fulcrum, wherebysaid container may be substantially inverted for dumping purposes, theremote side wall of each of said king pins having (I a configurationsuch that no point thereof will lie beyond a substantially circular arecentered upon said fulcrum and including the uppermost point of contactof said remote wall with the king pin bearing socket.

4. The combination of a hot metal car or the like with means fordischarging the contents thereof, comprising a container mounted uponwheeled supporting trucks, a container support disposed laterally of andadjacent said car, vertically spaced support engaging means on thecontainer, and vertically spaced stationary seating means on saidsupport to be engaged by said support engaging means, the uppermostseating means being spaced horizontally more remotely from the car thanthe lower seating means so that the container will be tiltedsuccessively about horizontally and vertically spaced axes when rockedtoward said support.

his JOHN D. x PUGH.

mark

Witnesses:

ADDIE A. PUGH. ELLEN CLARK.

